Responding to the launch of Labour Party's child health action plan Matthew Taylor, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said:

"NHS leaders are becoming increasingly concerned about deteriorating outcomes for children and young people, including worsening waiting times for speech and language therapies and other vital community and mental health services. They want to see a renewed government focus on tackling the underlying causes of this and will welcome many of the commitments set out in Labour’s plan.

"A generation of children and young people risk being failed if the next government does not give as much priority to addressing this area as they do the elective care backlog. This means extra investment in specialist staff working in children’s services and more investment in the mental health support that children should expect to have in every school.

"The NHS has a vital role to play in improving outcomes for children and young people but cannot do it alone. We will continue to make limited progress unless the government tackles the fundamental issues that determine a child’s health, wellbeing and educational attainment.

"NHS leaders want to see institutions across our society, particularly education, resourced and empowered to support everyone’s health. This starts by enabling children and young people to grow into healthy, happy adults that can secure the future of the country."